Left Me All Alone In the Darkness
by Hope is an inspiration
Summary: Follows season 2 Finale, where Stefan has left Mystic Falls, leaving Damon and a heartbroken Elena, behind. Will they follow him? Please Read and Review!
1. I Don't Want to Have To Miss You

_**Left Me All Alone In the Darkness**_

_The Season Finale was intense, and I liked it. I will always be a Stelena fan, but I wasn't mad at the Delena scenes like I usually am. I thought they were sad, and that Elena was trying her best to comfort Damon. That she wasn't in Love with him, and never would be, but she did love him. He's her best friend, and she knew she had to let him go. The kiss was because she didn't want to let him go with him thinking she didn't care. And I don't think Stefan will be permantly gone. He's coming back, or they are going to follow Klaus and him because the show would crash and burn if he wasn't in it. Without the main three cast members, the show wouldn't survive. So this is a tale of what I think might happen, starting with Elena's thoughts while she was lying with Damon and he Was Dying. Review, please, because I want to know your opinions…and read my other stories and please read and review on my songfics, I have so much fun writing those, so I want people to read them and review. And btw, I don't own the vampire diaries and all of it's characters, though if I did, Elena and Stefan would have even more Stelena scenes (forgive me for my obsession, I'm a little upset that Stefan left…Come back, Stefan!)_

**1. I Don't Want to Have To Miss You**

"This is even more pitiful than I thought." Damon said to me as I cradled his head. His voice was weak, slurred, hoarse, making it barely understandable. Yet I heard every word, and I knew that despite the tears filling up my eyes, I couldn't let him die without comfort.

"There's still hope."

"I've made a lot of choices that have gotten me here." He said while looking at the wall or the ceiling. His face was damp with sweat, the sadness in his voice sending a twinge of pain through me. My best friend was going to die, and there was nothing I could do but be here, and try to help him get through it. Help me get through it. I'd lost so much in the last three days, and I regretted what had led to everything. That it was my fault.

But that couldn't compare to the guilt of 150 years of bad decision making. "I deserve this." He swallowed, struggling to say the words, "I deserve to die."

"No." I said, shaking my head, and turning to face him. And I knew what I was saying was true. He didn't deserve to die for those bad decisions, just as I didn't deserve to die for the one's I had made. And I had never realized that before now. That we all make bad choices, and we deserve consequences. And those consequences are the guilt, we need not to pay any more than that, because death is easy, while guilt lasts forever. "You don't."

"I do Elena, and it's okay. 'Cause if I had chosen differently I wouldn't have met you." I forced myself to look at him and meet his eyes. But I didn't want to. I hated breaking his heart. Hated that I was unable to reciprocate his feelings for me. "I'm so sorry." I smiled weakly as he continued on. "I did so many things to hurt you."

I shook my head, responding despite the emotional pain that filled me for what I had done to him. "It's okay. I forgive you."

"I know you love Stefan. And it will always be Stefan. But I love you." The tear leaked from my eyes as he said those words. My head repeated, _no, you can't say that, you shouldn't feel that way about me_. Because he'd said the truth before, I was _in love_ with Stefan. I always would be. But what Damon didn't realize was that I may not be _in love_ with him, but I did love him. Despite the times when I hated him so much that I could barely stand it, I still loved him. And that showed, because when you get angry at someone, get hurt by someone, it means that you had to care about them first, otherwise it doesn't matter what they did, it won't really affect you. "You should know that."

He took deep breaths as I laid my head down on the right side of his chest, where I could hear his heart beating. It always made me laugh, to think that vampires had a hear beat, when they probably shouldn't. But not now, It was to sad of a time for that. "I do." I said. I had known he did, but it hurt so much for him to say it aloud. I'd never wanted him to. I had never wanted things to change.

"You should have met me in 1864." I could his sick, weak smile, and it made me want to die, to think I'd hurt him so much, "You would have liked me."

I moved my head from his shoulder to look at his face, "I like you now." I squeezed out more tears, because I couldn't hold them in. He couldn't die thinking I hated him. I didn't. I cared about him, he was one of my best friends, no matter what I said or did. No matter what he said or did. "Just the way you are."

He opened his eyes to look a me. "Hmm…"

I looked at his face, at his sad, dying face, knowing I hadn't done enough, hadn't been enough. I should have been more, should have tried to force my heart to love him. But it wouldn't change anything, in fact it might have made more of a mess of things, or broke us all into pieces. So all I had was now, all I could do was give him something, despite the mess it might cause. Because he would be gone, and he wouldn't know how much I wanted to be what he wanted me to be. How much I wished I could have cared. I pressed my lips to his for about two seconds, hoping I wouldn't regret it. Hoping that Stefan would forgive me. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." I said, smiling weakly again. I couldn't smile happily, because this wasn't happy. It was painful. It was loss of logic, loss of sense, loss of love, of curiosity, loss of everything. It was death. And I was more aware of what I was loosing as I stared at him, more aware of what I had already lost.

"Well it's me you should be thanking." I turn my head sharply, moving off of the bed swiftly, like a child who feared they'd been caught doing something they weren't supposed to do. "I mean, I'm the one who brought the cure." Katherine said, waving around a vile filled with dark red liquid around. I could only guess that it was blood as she walked towards us, "I though you were dead." She said boringly to me, as if she was halfway disappointed that I was alive.

"I was." I said coolly, not allowing myself to be afraid of her. Relief and guilt filled me as I faced the fact that Damon would survive.

"You got free." Damon said to Katherine, as she opened the vile and pressed it to his lips.

"Yep, Finally."

"And you still came here." He said.

I watched as she cupped Damon's cheek and then said, "I owed you one." Then she patted his check gently and climbed off the bed.

I remembered something, as I looked at her, remembered what Stefan said he was going to do, what he must have done despite me telling him not to. "Where's Stefan?" I asked, confused to why he wasn't the one bringing the cure. Not that I really wanted him to, because then he would have seen what I did, when I would rather tell him myself.

"Are you sure you care?" She asked, tilting her head. The comment burned, but I didn't let it stop me. Her expression made me think that something really bad had happened, and I was probably right.

"Where is he?" I said, walking closer to her, as if daring her to fight me. And if she wanted to, I wouldn't back down. I didn't care if I had to die to find out if Stefan was alive, or where he was at. Because if I did die, I knew Damon would kill Katherine and then find Stefan himself. Make sure he was okay.

"He's paying for this." She said, straightening herself and tilting the empty but red stained bottle. "He gave himself over to Klaus." I could barely breathe as she said that. It was all my fault for making sure he didn't go to Klaus, whatever happened to him would be on my conscious for the rest of my life. I watched as she took a deep breath, if unsure to herself whether Stefan was alright or not, "I wouldn't expect him anytime soon."

"What do you mean he gave himself over?" I asked in shock. And the silent question, _why wouldn't he be home anytime soon?_

She shrugged, "He just sacrificed everything to save his brother." She said it as if it didn't matter. "Including you." She smiled over at Damon. "It's a good thing you have Damon to keep you company."

Damon looked over at her, and I realized through my panic that he looked a lot better, that one good thing had come out of so many horrible ones.

"Goodbye Elena." She said as she turned and walked away, smiling smugly. "Oh," She said, turning around as if she had forgotten to say something. But I knew it was just an act, I knew that she was acting, that she'd probably scripted this whole entire thing as she came to the boarding house. "It's okay to love them both," She raised her eyebrows, while I looked at her in horror and confusion; because I knew the response I couldn't say. That it was not okay. "I did." She said, lastly, as she left, throwing the empty vile at me.

Damon sat up as I turned to him, his face still wet with sweat, but looking at me directly. His face was one of confusion and fear; mine was one of pure terror, as we both thought the unspoken question: _What had Stefan done?_

…

"Has he texted you back? Called? Anything?" Damon asked, as he entered the living room ten minutes later. I was sitting on one of the couches, rocking myself back and forth, holding my cell phone in my right hand. I'd checked every thirty seconds or more, thinking that perhaps my phone just wasn't vibrating, maybe something had screwed with the settings. Maybe the next time I would glance at it I would see that he had responded. But there was no vibrating, no messages. No phone call.

Damon sat beside me, freshly showered and dressed in clean clothes, which he'd needed after the ordeal he'd been through that night. But I was on the edge, so much so that I had knocked on his bathroom door after eight minutes, telling him to hurry up. Because there was no time to lose, we had to find Stefan. Right now.

I shook my head, while he drew in a sharp breath. I barely heard him murmur under his breath, "What did he do?" before he turned to face me, forcing his face to be calm. "Hey, it'll be okay. We'll find him, save him."

Then he took my shaking hand in his own and gently pried my cell phone out of my hands, which was clutching the cell phone so tightly that it my phone had dug into my hand, leaving thick red lines on my skin, "We'll call him, okay?"

I nodded, I'd been waiting to do that all along, but knew Damon wanted me to wait, in case Klaus answered, or so he could thank Stefan.

Damon fiddled with my phone, going through my contacts, "It's speed dial #2." I finally said, annoyed with how long it was taking.

"Who's #1?" He asked. His eyebrows raised in curiosity.

I huffed in frustration, "Jeremy, okay? Now focus, Damon." He dialed the number and pressed talk, putting it on speaker. It rang and rang, until his voice mail was all we heard. And then we tried again. In fact, we must have tried about five times before his phone was answered.

"Hello, Elena. Nice hearing that you're alive, but if you want to talk to Stefan, he's right here, but not wanting to answer the phone, it seems. Don't worry, I only took his phone because he didn't want to answer, and the sound of his ringtone was giving me a migraine. But I don't think he wants to talk to you, In fact, he could have answered your text, but he chose not to." Klaus said, his tone friendly and calm, as if he hadn't just killed Elena and her aunt in a sacrifice ritual two nights prior.

"Where is he?" I demanded, not knowing what else to ask.

"And just why should I answer that? What do I have to gain?"

"Just tell me, please, and I'll do whatever you want me to." I said desperately, knowing that every word was the truth, that I'd do whatever I had to save him. Because I loved him that much.

I ignored Damon's look, the one that said, over my dead body you'll go to Klaus, until he opened his mouth to speak. But luckily, he got interrupted by Klaus. "But I already have everything I need from you, my dear. And besides, you don't need both Salvatore brothers, so let me take one with me. Besides, Katherine told us some pretty interesting things, a moment ago. Maybe that's why Stefan won't speak to you."

"Whatever she said was a lie." Damon said, growling.

"Really? What do you think about that, Stefan?" I heard no reply from him, the one whose voice I really wanted to hear. The one who I really needed to see, to explain to. Tears filled my eyes as I thought about what Klaus had said. I understood his tone, what he was saying. That I might never see Stefan again. And it tore me apart to think it would all end here.

"Please, Stefan, let me explain. Let me see you."

"I'm sorry Elena, but I don't think that will happen. You see, I've convinced Stefan to go on a decade long bender. So maybe I'll bring him back then, or then again, maybe not."

"Please, I-"

"Have a nice life, Elena." He said. A moment later, there was a click, and then silence. I was only met with silence as the tears ran down my face. As the sobs took me over, I felt Damon wrap his arms around me. And we were alone; there was no longer another person who inhabited this house. Just as there might never be another person.


	2. Where Are You? Why Did You Go?

**2. Where Are You, Why Did You Go?**

"We have to find him." I declared an hour later, pacing in front of the sofa I was just sitting down on. I ran my hands through my straight brown hair, struggling to not hyperventilate because of all the stress I was under. If Stefan was hurt, then it would be all my fault. Because I didn't stop him.

"No…" Damon said, not looking at me, but at the corner, "I have to find him. You need to stay here."

I stopped walking to stare and glare at Damon, "You want me to just sit here and wait for you to bring him back? You can't do this alone, Damon, you need me."

"You'd just get yourself hurt. I can't save Stefan if I have to worry about Klaus killing you, or Stefan killing you for that matter." Damon's eyes were saddened, regretful to what he just said, although he knew it was the truth. I would get us both killed, I was nearly useless because I was a human.

"Stefan would never hurt me." I huffed, knowing I wouldn't get to go with him, so shifting to a different topic.

"Elena, there has to be a reason Klaus kept Stefan with him, and didn't kill him. And I doubt it's because he wanted to play tea party with those little sandwiches all day long."

"And what's that reason?"

"I don't know, Elena." Damon said, giving me a serious gaze, "But whatever it is, I doubt Klaus would let him keep his diet. If Klaus wants Stefan around, he'll want him strong. Which means that Stefan could be on edge right now, and if you came it could stir it into an overflowing pot of death and horror. And if Stefan killed you, there'd be no way he would forgive himself for that." Immense guilt entered my heart, stronger than before. I loved Stefan, and I hated to see him struggle. And because of me….because I didn't stop him from going to Klaus to find answers, he might be overwhelmed and struggling with humanity.

"I-I-Oh god." I said after a minute, struggling to comprehend what I'd already figured out. That this, that everything that happened, was my fault.

"Look," he said, coming over to me and taking my hand, "You should go home and check on Jeremy while I go and try to figure out where Stefan is." His tone was serious and saddened as he looked into my eyes. As if something had happened, more harm had hit my already tragic life.

"What, why? What happened to Jeremy?" I asked, fear running like ice throughout my body. Slowly it made its way to my heart, freezing my body in entirety.

"I-I don't entirely know." He said, as if grappling, struggling to find the words, "I remember we were in the grill…The sheriff was there. And she had a gun. I didn't know Jeremy was behind me until I hear the screaming. I'm sorry, Elena…I should have told you before, but I couldn't-" I was already walking towards the door. Not in anger, but in desperation to see if my brother was dead or alive. I didn't know what to except, or maybe I did. But the pain in my heart told me that if I lost one more person, it would truly kill me. There would be nothing left but an empty shell, a black hole where my heart used to beat strongly throughout my chest. No, I couldn't lose my brother too.

"Elena!" He called after me. But I didn't turn around. I had to see if it was true, if my brother was indeed dead.

"Bonnie?" I said, when her voicemail picked up, "Call me back, I really need to ask you something." Driving back to my house, I couldn't comprehend why Bonnie wouldn't pick up unless Jeremy really was dead. _Oh god_, I thought, _she must be so sickened with grief_. I only knew that because I could feel it in the pit of my stomach, nausea from all the heartbreak and tragedy lately. I fought hard the tears as I drove, knowing they would blind me if I let them come. I had to know, one way another, if my intuition was true, if he really was dead, and never coming back.

The lights were on in the living room, I could see, as I pulled up. They were dim, and a fire of torture and grief tore at me as I looked upon them, fearing that if my family (or friends, if that was all I had left), was in the living room, and not asleep, than he really was dead, and they were just sitting there, still and silent, waiting on more loved ones to come so they could tell them the god awful news. "Well, I guess I'll find out one way or another," I said to myself, letting go of the steering wheel I was clutching so tightly that it left deep red marks on the palm of my hand, and stepping out of the car.

I could hear the dead silence as I opened the door to my home, and it made the fear more vibrant, more alive. So I was relived and then shocked when I found Alaric sleeping on the sofa, and Jeremy standing between him and the kitchen, his mouth agape and eyes widened in surprise. "Jeremy!" I cried, running towards him as I let the tears of so many emotions run down my face. I hugged him, relief and joy being the only emotions I felt, the relief causing the tears. Because I was so afraid, so afraid I'd lost him. And I couldn't bare to think that I'd lost yet another person I cared about.

"Jeremy…" I repeated, taking a deep breath, "Are you okay? Damon said you were…?" I trailed off, not wanting to finish my thought. It was then that I realized that he wasn't hugging me back, that he was still standing as still as he had when I entered the room. I pulled back, looking into his eyes, and fearing that he was indeed not alright, "Jeremy, are you okay? Jeremy, please answer me!" I was starting to hyperventilate.

"Huh? His eyes blinked at first, and then he started to move very slowly, "Anna? Vickie?"?

"What, Jer? It's me, It's Elena…Anna and Vickie aren't here, they're-"

"Dead, I know." He said, "But they were here…I-I saw them."

"You what? Jeremy…when? What are you talking about?"

"I-uh…nothing." He closed his eyes, and then opened them, seemingly to see me for the first time, "Hey, Elena…I…just…how's Damon?"

"He's healing," I said, pulling Jeremy into a real hug, one that felt supportive, and helped me calm down, "But Jeremy, he said you died? What happened, Jer?"

"Yeah, I, umm…died. Sheriff Forbes shot me…not on purpose, but I still died…but Bonnie brought me back."

"Brought you back? How?"

"With magic…she begged the witches to help, and they agreed." He stepped back, "So how'd you get the cure?"

"That's what need Bonnie's help with…Stefan sacrificed himself to Klaus to save Damon…" I exhaled, loudly. I felt physically and mentally exhausted, and I just wanted to sleep. But I had a feeling that I'd never be able to get enough sleep, that it was my life to be this way, to never feel happy, or energetic, but to feel like I'd wasted all my energy. To feel like nothing was ever going to be right or happy again. That I was going to be sad for forever.

"Well, what do we do next?"

"You do nothing next." A voice said. I heard the front door close, though I'd never heard it open. But there it was, closing, Damon standing in the entry, "_I_, go after my brother…alone. And I have a good idea where to look. The sheriff found a body in a warehouse downtown, with the throat torn open."

"You think Klaus…" I trailed off, mentally hating but thanking Klaus for deciding to leave a parting gift. At least it gave us a place to look…because there was no way, no matter what Damon said, that I was going to be left behind.

"No." He said, sighing, "Elena,you need to listen to me carefully, because your not going to like this…Remember what Klaus said? That he'd convinced Stefan to go one a decade long bender?"

"No, he wouldn't…" I said, trailing off.

"He wouldn't have a choice…but look, Elena, I have something for you…it was at the warehouse, and it had your name on it. I stole it from the Sheriff's desk, because she was talking about it with one of the deputies…I think it's from Stefan."

The silence engulfed the room, as my eyebrows shot up to the sky in surprise.


	3. The Parting of Ways

**3. The Parting of Ways**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lol, I can't remember what I was thinking of her finding….I think it was a letter, so it's going to be a letter.<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>Dear Elena,<em>

_Leaving you, for the sake of my brother, should be hard, it should be something I look back at and I regret. _

_But I don't think I ever will. He's the only family I have left, and you know how hard it is to lose family, even those you despise at times, and I just can't lose him. _

_But it's not just for him that I'm leaving. I'm leaving for you, also. You're the single most important person to me, and if I thought I was leaving you in danger, or in the same amount of danger you're in while Klaus is here, I would never go. But Klaus has said we will leave this town, which means you should be free of harm, of danger, and you will be able to move on with your life. You're strong, and have made it through the worst things that life brings. And I know you can find the strength to find happiness without me, without anything to do with creatures like vampires and werewolves, creatures you shouldn't know about in the first place._

_Just remember, wherever you go, how much I love you._

_Yours Always,_

_Stefan Salvatore_

I clutched the letter hard to my chest, after reading it for the fifth time. I couldn't believe his words, he thought I was better off without him. But he didn't know the truth, that he was all I had left. "Elena." My name was soft on the tongue it came from. Damon Salvatore, his brother.

"What do you want Damon?" I asked, holding back the tears that wanted to fall from my eyes. I was not in the mood to even talk to Damon at the moment.

"I'm leaving." He said, causing me to sigh, and feel even more upset, "I came to say goodbye." His hair was slicked back, but also falling forward near his eyes, and for a moment, I couldn't look away from those sorrowful ice blue eyes that seemed to read a message that he did not want to leave, a message pleading with me to tell him to stay.

"Goodbye Damon." I said, imagining the wall I was placing between the two of us, barriers we both held that had just recently started to crumble, but were now repaired, it seemed.

He came over to me, bent down; squeezing his eyes shut as if with so much pain and agony, and then kissed me on the forehead, "Goodbye Elena."

That was the last time I saw him for two more weeks.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Diary,<em>

_This is the first time I write to you in a long while….but still, I should be happy right? Today I'm 18 years old, old enough to buy a lottery ticket, to be a guardian to Jeremy and myself, old enough to get my inheritance._

_Yet I'm not happy._

_I used to have so much, be so much, until nearly a year ago a path started, one that devoured everything. The only people left are Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline, and Alaric, and they can't do anything to fix all that's gone horribly wrong. They can only hope there friendship is enough to make me happy again. _

_I'm not sure it is. Although, I'm not sure about much anymore. Life is uncertain where it once wasn't, and I don't know where to go from here._

_Love, _

_Elena_

"Are you ready yet?" Damon called up to me on the fateful morning of my eighteen birthday. He'd gotten back nearly a week earlier, saying that there was no other place for him to look, that all hope was lost in the search for Stefan. When he said he'd bring back Stefan, all I knew was I never should have believed him.

"Not yet, Damon." I called back, pulling my ever so long brunette hair back in a ponytail and then grabbing my bag. I hated the fact that they were making me go out, and to endure hours of a party they were throwing for me. All I wanted to do was crawl up and sleep, forget the world, but I needed to make them happy. They were all I had left. "Now I'm ready."

And we headed out the door.

* * *

><p>"It's time for cake!" A little girl exclaimed as Bonnie pushed me in front of a large cake. My stomach was filled with butterflies, as everyone sang happy birthday. I scanned the crowd, smiling in thanks, not knowing what was about to happen, who I was about to see. And then, when I did see the face, my world went black.<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>I thought, although this was a really short chapter, that it was a good chapter. =] I hope you all agree, and therefore, read and review! Back soon,<strong>_

_**-It'sYouAndMeStefan. Always**_


	4. Author's Note

This is just a huge little Author's note rant about what my life has become. I'm now in college and a while ago I just kinda didn't feel any sort of passion towards vampire diaries anymore. I don't know why or what happened, and I still watch it, but I just don't care about Stelena or Delena, I mean they're both great, okay?! But yeah, and I've just been writing a lot of original stuff, because I do want to be a published author one day (it would be a dream come true that I've been working on for more than five years) and with school and the television show Castle (if you've never watched it go do so now) and a bunch of personal crap (oh god there's loads of it, you don't even want to know). I feel like I'm letting so many people down, because I recently found out that people still read my fanfiction, which I didn't expect.

If you want me to update, could you just leave a review or message me, and I'll try and do so when I have some time. As for now, if you are missing my writing and you're interested in reading some of my regular fiction, then visit my fictionpress. It's right here:

u/793595/

:) Hope to talk to you/write fanfiction for you soon!


End file.
